Light fixture for beds and other furniture



Jan. 8, 1929. 1,697,884

L. ROTH LIGHT FIXTURE FOR BEDS AND OTHER FURNITURE Filed Jan. 2, 1924 2Shets-Sheet 1 Jan. 8, 1929. 1,697,884

L. ROTH LIGHT FIXTURE FOR BEDS AND OTHER FURNITURE Fi led Jan. 2, 1924.2 Sheets-Shet 2 Wren 729x21, I 100/5 907w,

Patented Jan. 8, 1929.

UNITED STATES i i 1,697,884 Parent oFFic LOUIS ROTH, F ELIZABETH, NEWJERSEY, AssIeNoE, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, To THE FBINK CORPORATION, on NEWYORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION or DELAWARE.

LIGHT FIXTURE Eon BEDS AND OTHER FURNITURE.

Application filed January 2, 1924. Serial No. 683,863.

This invention is a lighting fixture, and it pertains to a deviceadapted for use on articles of furniture such as beds, and in oneembodiment the fixture is serviceable more particularly on folding beds,

A bed light requires easy application to a bedstead and provision forthe protection of the electric current conductors and the incandescentlamp, which conductors and lamp are in general use at the present time.In addition to fulfilling the foregoing requirements, my new fixtureperforms'additional function by making provision for changes in theposition of the reflector hood to suit the convenience of the occupant,and for retaining saidreflector hood in any one of several positionsinto which it may be shifted or adjusted. Furthermore, in one embodimentof the invention provision is made for an automatic adjustment of thefixture when used on or in V conjunction with a folding bedstead of thattype wherein the bedframe is raised or lowered with respect to the headboard, so-called, such automatic adjustment afiording the desiredfacility to the lighting fixture by permitting said fixture to turn outof the way of the bed frame upon movingthe latter into a folded positionrelatively to the head board.

Other functions and advantages of the invention will appear from thefollowing description taken in connection withthe drawings, wherein-Figure l is an end view of my lighting fixture applied to a bedrail.

Figure 2 is a plan view with parts in horizontal section.

Figure 3 is a detail view of a frictional retainer co-operable with thereflector hood for holding it frictionally in therequired position. I

Figure 4C is a plan view of another embodiment of the invention withparts in horizontal section illustrating means for mounting the fixtureupon a folding bedstead in a manner to be shiftableautomatically to thebedframe upon the movement of the latter to a folded position.

Figure 5 is an end elevation partly in section of the self adjustingfixture of Figure 4, the dotted lines illustrating the automaticmovement of the fixture to accommodate itself tothe folding movement ofa bed frame.

Figures 6, 7 and 8 are views in side elevation, end elevation, and plan,respectively, of another embodiment of the invention, wherein provisionis made for mounting the hood and the lamp upon a desk, or other pieceof.-

furniture. I

Referring to the structure disclosed in Figures 1 to 3, inclusive, A isa hood, B C are supporting members therefor, D a lamp sock-- et and E anincandescent lamp.

The hood comprises a shell which is closed at the ends by heads a, a,and open fata on the under surface, said openin of extending forsubstantially the length 0 the shell and being of appreciable width toemit the light rays downwardly. Obviously, the shell may becomposed ofmaterial suitable for the pur-- pose, such as metal. It is preferred toutilize the hood as a medium for reflecting the rays 1 emanating fromthe electric lamp, and to this end the interior surface of said hoodispolished, painted, or otherwise provided with such a light reflectingsurface. I

The'hood as well as the lamp and the lamp socket are adapted to bemounted on a bedstead, or other-article of furniture, by supportingmeans of simple and economical construction, and in one embodiment ofthe invention I provide said supporting means in the form of members B,C, one or both of which are tubular, as shown in Figure 2. Each member Bor C consists of a pipe or tube which is straight for the major part ofits length and is bent at substantially a right angle to produce a shortarm 6, said member being provided with male threads c, 0-, one

- thread a at the end of the straight part and the other thread c at theend of the shortarm 5. j

The heads a, 0; of the hood are provided with substantially centralopenings in which are received the short arms I; of said members B C,and thus the hood is mounted on said members for rotative movement on anaxis which extends longitudinally ofthe hood,the short arms I) of themembers B' 0 serving the function of trunnions for the axial rotativemovement of the hood. As shown, the trunnionsvor arms 6 are providedwith collars d to arrest any tendency of the hood to slide lengthwise onthe members, and the assemblage of the hood relatively to the trunnionsor arms 6 is effected by screwing a nut d on the threaded part c of thearm on the member C, whereas thelamp socket D is screwed on the threadedpart 0 of the trunnion b on member B. vThe lamp socket D is of the formusualin theart,constructed with a switch; (not shown) operable by a pullchain D. Said lamp socket is fixedly attached to the trunnion b ofmember B and is in coaxial relation to said trunnion so thatanyxtendency of the lamp socketto shift out.

of the proper position is minimized. The lamp E is of the usual form,adapted to be screwed into the socket.

The socket D and lamp E are in fixed relation to the member B and to thehood so as to bev encased substantially by said hood, but this hood isshiftable' relatively to the lamp and the socket by rotating said hoodon the axis affordedby the trunnions of the members B C. For retainingthe loosely mounted hood in any one of the several positions into whichit may be shifted, I employ frictional retaining means herein shown in.the form of a spring washer or washers F F. Each friction retainer is asingle stamping of sheet metal, concavo-convex in cross section andprovided with radial arms f and with a cen tra'lopening, see Figure 3.The retainer F is fitted loosely on the trunnion b of member B, betweenthe head as of the hood and the lamp socket D, whereas the otherretainer F is fitted loosely on the trunnion b of member O,-intermediate the other head a of the hood and the nut screwed thereon.The reta ners are under tenslon by reason of the nut and the socketbeing screwed on the trunnions,

andfthus the retainers have such frictional contact with the heads ofthe'hood as to hold said hood in position relative to the members I B C,and at the same time permit the hood to be manipulatedby hand so as tohave the required rotative movement.

Thesupporting members B C are adapted for fixed attachment to the pieceof furniture, and in the example shown, the threaded end portions 0 ofsaid members B C are passed through openings provided in'a rail G of abedstead. The members are provided with collars gand on the threadedendportions 0 are screwed clamping nuts 9 to draw the collars into tightengagement with the rail, washers 9 being intermediate the rail and thenuts. Obviously, the bedrail G may be square, round or other formincross section, and, in fact, the members B C'may' be attached fixedly toany article of furniture, or to any other place.

The fixture may be easily attached by inserting themembers B G intoholes provided in the supporting element, such as bedrail G, and one orboth electric conductors "E led through one of the tubular members, asB, to the lamp socket. The parts are quickly set up for service, and theentire device is simple iniconstruction and economical of manufacture.The fixtureis in a stationary relation to the bed except for the hood Awhich may be rotated on a horizontal axis to vary the relation of thelight opening a to the plane of the bed, whereby the light rays may betially as hereinbefore described, but in this.

form of the invention the fixture is shiftable bodily in order that thehood and the lamp with the socket may be moved bodily with respect tothe article on which the fixture is mounted, as e. g. a folding bedsteadinclud ing a stationary headboard G and a swing-' mg bedframe (notshown) movable on a horizontal axis.

The mount for the fixture includes sup porting members B C and bracketsH, H, each bracket beingslotted at h to receive the end portion of onemember, B or C, whereby said members B C are attached pivotally' to thebrackets by the screws, pins'or bolts 7;; The brackets rest upon theheadboard G and are attached fixedly thereto by screw bolt-s z". Thesupporting members B C are free to swing'on horizontal axis afforded bythe pins i, but in the forwardand downward movement of the hood and thelamp, the swinging motion of the members'B C, is arrested by stop lugscontacting with the bracketsI-I, H.

The supporting member 0 is shown as being provided with a trunnion K onwhich is loosely fitted the head a of the hood A, and with said trunnionand hood is associated a spring retainer F. The supporting member B; isprovided with a tubular trunnion 7c through which pass the leading inelectric conductors to adapt the latter for attachment to the lampsocket D Said tubular trim nion lc is provided with a male thread onwhich is screwed the lamp socket in order to fixedly'mountsaid socket onthe tubular trunnion. The head a of thehood A is fitted loosely on thetubular trunnion 7c, and a spring retainerF co-operates with saidtrunnion and with the hood. .The retainers F F have frictionalengagement with the hoodfor retaining the same in the position intowhich said hood may be shifted. The brackets H H are fixedly'at-tachedto the headboard G, but the supporting members B C" have amovable relation tothe headboard in order that the hood and the lamp maybe turned into a position forwardly of said headboard andintooverhanging relation to the bed. The lamp and hood'arestationa-ry intheir forwardly extended positions,but the hood may be shifted by handto reflect the rays of light in a desired direcion. .Upon an upward andrearward movement of the bedframe (not shown) to assume a foldedposition relatively to the headboard, thebedding carried by the foldingbed frame impinges the hood'A and the fixture swings bodily on the axisafforded by the pivots i and intothe out of service position illustratedby dotted linesin Figure 4, whereby the fixture adjusts itself to thefolding movement of the bedframe. The hood and lamp with the pivotedmembers B C swing to the off center position shown in dotted lines inFigure 4 so as to remain at rest and substantially free from contactwith the bedding or the bed frame, but when the bedframe is lowered, itis necessary for the operator to swing the lamp fixture to the serviceposition shown in full lines in Figure at.

A still further embodiment of the invena tion is shown in Figures 6, 7and 8, wherein provision is made for fixedly supporting the lamp and thehood upon a desk I, or other article of furniture. As shown, the mountincludes a pedestal J provided with a foot member y" adapted to befixedly attached to the rear angular corner of the desk, etc. Saidpedestal carries a yokeshaped supporting.

member L, the ends of which are provided with trunnions M N at least oneof which is tubular for the reception of the leading in tainer F adaptedfor frictional contact with the hood and operating to hold said hood inthe position to which it may be shifted. The other trunnion N isprovided with a collar n and with two sockets, one of which is threaded.The end of the yoke is fitted in one of the sockets, and a screw O isthreaded into the other socket for clamping the trunnion N into fixedrelation, to the yoke L, the head of said screw O holding a washer 0 anda spring retainer similar to F in the desired relation to the hood A Thelamp E is attached fixedly to the pull socket D whereas the hood A isshiftable at will on the trunnions M N. As shown in Figure 7, the crosssectional contour of the hood may be modified to produce the forwardlyextending member a whereby the area of the light opening a is increasedso as to direct the light rays over a wider area upon the desk to I romthe foregoing description taken in connection with the drawings, it willbe noted that in each formillustrated the hood is normally stationarywith respect to a lamp which is supported in position by a fixed socket,that said hood is shiftable by turning it on an axis extendinglengthwise of the arms being shiftable as a unit to an out of servicerelation to a bedframe and also shiftable as a unit into a forwardlyprojecting service relation to said bed frame, means for arresting themovement of said swinging arms on the pivots when said arms and hoodoccupy the service positions and'the out of service positions, andspring friction means co-operable with the arms and the hood forretaining said hood in adjusted positions with respect to the pivotedarms.

2. In a bed frame, supporting meansadapted to be fixedly attached to abedframe, a plurality of arms each pivoted to said supporting means,said arms being provided with trunnions, a hood fitted loosely onsaidtrunnions and coupling said arms to elfect a conjoint movement ofthe hood and said arms, spring retainers fitted on the trunnions andconfined in frictional engagement with said hood, said spring retainersbeing under tension and contacting directly withthe hood for holding thelatter in position relatively to the arms, said hood and the pivotedarms being shift-able as a unit into an upstanding relation to the bedframe and being movable as a unit into a forwardly projecting relationto said bed frame, and means on the pivoted arms and the supportingmeans for arresting the movement of the pivoted arms when shifted withthe hood to the upstanding position or to the forwardly projectingpositions relatively to said bed frame.

3. In a bed lamp, a plurality of supporting arms provided with threadedtrunnions, a hood fitted loosely on said trunnions, a collar fixed oneach trunnion and contacting with said hood, a lamp socket screwed onone trunnion, a nut screwed on the other trunnion, and a plurality offriction springs fitted on the trunnions and held in position by the nutand the lamp socket respectively, said friction springs having directfrictional contact with said hood for retaining the latter in adjustedpositions relatively to the sup porting arms.

In testimony whereof I have hereto signed my name this 31 day ofDecember, 1923.

LOUIS ROTH.

